


Veiled Love

by sunflowersdawn



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Demon Johnny - Freeform, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Idiots in Love, Light Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Misunderstandings, Poems, Poetry, Underworld, for five seconds - Freeform, i didn't describe anything tho, mention of tortures, messenger jaehyun, underworld setting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-12 02:14:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28877790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunflowersdawn/pseuds/sunflowersdawn
Summary: Delivering and conveying. Both seem so similar and yet the difference lies in the misunderstandings they may or may not cause... everything's so complicated and for what?
Relationships: Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun/Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24
Collections: Johnny Fic Fest: Round Two





	Veiled Love

**Author's Note:**

> Hey hey hey,
> 
> I'm realy sorry about the length of this fic: the prompt is so promising, but I haven't written anything in prose in such a long time... still, I hope you can enjoy Veiled Love!
> 
> I have to thank my beta, Nee, for helping me brainstorm and putting up with my mess of ideas. Ash and Lucy, for supporting me throught the whole process both as friends and writers themselves.
> 
> Please, let me know through my [CC](https://curiouscat.qa/119markno/) what you think of Veiled Love!
> 
> _____________
> 
> For JFF round two; prompt #JS071.

With dark rocks under his thighs, black sand coloring his skin like Artemis' wagon in the sky, Jaehyun never thought he’d find himself telling a demon of the Underworld about the arts performed by the mortals and, yet, here he is.

It’s not like Johnny has never seen or heard of any of them – some are the tortures meant for the souls he looks after – but there seem to be so many details he can’t grasp because of Hades’ kingdom.

For example, he has no idea what a fresh bouquet of flowers smells like nor why people would fight for some patch of wool.

Still, the messenger of the Olympias always tries his best to fit as many descriptions as possible in those limited moments they have, before he has to return to the Mount.

Johnny has no idea why he gave in so easily to the gut feeling telling him to take advantage of the knowledge of this boy. _Guess they're both really intriguing. Tales of a colorful world spilling from a messenger as vivid..._

It’s not easy being a curious soul (how ironical) when looking after something that has stopped breathing for life, but he manages. Johnny asks and asks, his persona so intriguing it reflects perfectly his looks.

The first time he saw him, Jaehyun was left speechless by how the black tunic stretched on the taller’s chest, how he seemed to always wear a grin as comfortably as his posture suggested him to be.

The winged messenger had waited some days before getting any closer, fascinated by how the demon looked ever so bored and curious at the same time – as if he never understood the tortures inflicted to those souls, but had also observed them more than he ever breathed.

And so, one day, Jaehyun brings him a statuette.

“It’s an idol. When they pray at home it’s positioned among scented candles.”

As Johnny keeps turning the object in his hands, the shorter wears a small smile, one that tells how endearing he finds the demon’s curiosity.

 _I didn't fidget the first time I talked to Persephone and now a common demon is making me want to bite my poor cuticles off… what's wrong with me?_

The demon doesn't voice any questions nor comments on the small piece of terracotta in his hands. He simply stands there with a weird expression – almost as if something disturbs him.

Jaehyun keeps silent, burning with the need to say something to smooth those features he often studies – with the same interest Johnny was now looking at the idol. Eventually, he leaves quietly, still a timid smile on his lips.

_______________

It takes them a couple of meetings to grow closer in a way that unconsciously ties their souls together.

It's new, for both of them, to learn through different eyes: they're so deep into stereotypes, it's a breath of fresh air to see how the other reacts, _how he sees._

Jaehyun is almost vibrating when they finally get to his favourite mortal art: rhetoric.

Actually, he doesn't get too deep into it, opting for etymology, which he prefers over anything. In his words, he "lets Johnny in through the door of knowledge". He's a tad dramatic, but can you really blame him?

"No, you're saying it wrong."

"Jaehyun, it's literally my native language."

"Yes, but you're getting the tone wrong. Put some emotions in that!"

"... it's not that serious!" and with that, Johnny earns himself a rather hard slap on the arm.

The poor demon has been trying to match Jaehyun's excitement for the past hour, today having more time on their hands, but he just misses the reason for all this involvement.

What doesn't escape him, though, is how the other's eyes shine so brightly, giving his features a new light altogether.

Lips parted in an enthusiastic smile, cheekbones softened and tinted of a pinkish warmth that strangely doesn't get washed away by the grey filter of the Underworld. Maybe he's just imagining it.

Dilated pupils catching the small variations of Johnny's expression, ready to change topic if he were to look bored, take up all of his irises. Jaehyun has told him they're an intense brown, like the humid woods surrounding the base of the Olympus, but Johnny likes to think they somehow reflect the color of his emotions.

_Amazement is gold. **The color of the gods.**_

That's why the demon keeps coming up with words to ask about.

"... that's why Zeus and day have the same root. Throughout the declension of his name you can see that: _ὁ Ζεύς, τοῦ Διός, τῷ Διί_ – never mind that. The point is, day and Zeus have in common the root of the word light.

Mortals orient themselves in time with it, so they named the father of the gods after the thing that rules them." The shimmer in his eyes is still there.

_**"Θαύμαζω."** _

Freezing on the spot, mouth agape, Jaehyun makes a noise of confusion, yet smiles so big it hurts his cheeks. So Johnny _was_ paying attention!

"You're a wonder; I can see in your eyes how much this fills you with… life."

_Is he making fun of me? Is this a tactic of the Underworld?, taking notes for when my soul will be damned?_

The smile that has been keeping Johnny warm for the past hour, in the desolation of the Fields of Asphodels, falters. Is it only him or did a wind, so hostile it feels like ice pricking the skin, wash over him? The demon could swear the Styx is howling.

"Words are the most precious thing mortals have. Always subject to the tantrums of the gods, they can only rely on what they came up with themselves; an immortal trace of what was, is and will be.

Never, and I mean never, you immortal creature, shall overlook the power of the spirit guided by emotions."

And with that, Jaehyun leaves.

_______________

_Unique ways, common ways._

_You used a never before_

_seen key,_

_but you left through_

_the same old door._

_You loved with your own heart, one;_

_You spat with their mouths, not one;_

_I closed both eyes,_

_taking in the made up_

_you_

_I now loved._

_My lover, where did you go?_

_"Betrayal comes in many forms and voices, but misunderstanding is only the result of it all."_

_______________

Johnny didn't receive any lessons for the following… month. _Is that how mortals count? I would ask Jaehyun, but.._

He had to admit, although it was a weird relationship – somewhere a little over the line of friends, but still too timid to be anything non canonical – he found comfort in it.

_"Can you really gain purpose, if you only ever hear the same old side of the story?"_

_"I'd say you've found **your** summer and spring, my guardian child."_

_______________

One day he's watching over some soul being summoned again and again by their child, without being able to reply to the call, when suddenly a crumpled piece of papyrus – actually, a _thrown_ piece of papyrus hits him.

Without stopping, shouting a "I've had it ready for a while now", Jaehyun flies by, before continuing on his usual route to Persephone: running along the Styx for a good five minutes – if he was in good shape (which he obviously always was, why’d you ask?) – before sharply turning left and then proceeding straight ahead ‘till the palace doors.

Sometimes he’d spice it up by annoying Charon on his way over, but he notes soon enough that “the old man is insufferable” and gives up (not that it made his time in the Underworld less enjoyable).

Scribbled on a stolen corner, Johnny reads a poem.

_Poetry._

Jaehyun had told him how poetry – better yet, _lyric_ poetry – was used by mortals to express their feelings, doubts and prayers.

Excitement was bubbling under the thick layer of wariness. _Is he still mad? Written words aren't a good omen..._

 _Will you hold me,_

_like the curiosity that lights up your eyes;_

_like the Selene you’ve never seen?_

_I can treasure what you can’t grasp,_

_but, o my lover, never fly me by;_

_or how would you reach the Elysian?_

_Never fly me by,_

_for all need a hand to hold_

_when the prayer is asked,_

_when forgiveness is sought._

To be able of saying sorry and stepping forward, it's what Jaehyun actually wishes for.

"I thought you were cursing me."

"I told you I'd treasure what you can't grasp; I've written down what my heart sings me at night, for you can't hear anything but laments."

Johnny has a tired expression tugging at his features; tired of posing like the colorful-dressed he isn't.

"Just because you have the most knowledge, it doesn't mean I don't have any at all. Knowledge is knowledge, no matter how deep and varied it is. _And,_ just because I guard the Underworld, it doesn't mean I can't appreciate the good things in life. We aren't all wicked at heart, I promise."

 _Take a bath in humility_ can be read between the lines, but the messenger doesn't say a word, knowing better than to make even more of a fool of himself.

"I talked to her, you know… she was incredibly disappointed and surprised.

Not that I blame her: I just didn't trust this fall head-first."

"I can see your worries, but you were never shouting into the void, just falling faster than you can fly."

_______________

It's never sunny in the Underworld – or, better, in the Fields of Asphodels.

Not because there isn't any light whatsoever, but because damnation cannot be purified by the mighty rays.

It's weird, sometimes, how even just a genuine mistake, distraction-borne, can cost you the warmth of an eternal eye watching over you.

It's like the two fields are separated by a cloth embracing and segregating the balance of the world, to avoid causing a collision even where there's supposed to be peace. The rivers, lulling roads that follow the wandering, scary in a never-changing and comforting way, delimit the fields, pass through them like the flowing life that has long left those lands.

_"Would you let me hold your hand?"_

"That's… an odd thing to ask," yet his timid fingers make their way to the other's half-closed palm, grazing lightly. When Johnny lowers his gaze he sees the gentle touch asking for permission, contrasting with the words spoken just seconds ago. _Jaehyun is smiling shyly._

"Did you know that the first thing we're taught, although I don't really remember learning it, it's that if you immobilize one's hands, they're yours?"

Johnny keeps his eyes locked on their hands, studying.

The air is quite… still. Not the type of atmosphere that surrounds a demon tormenting heroes on their trials.

He can almost feel everything stop, the sloshing waters against the Styx's banks only reminder that the world – outside their bubble – is still breathing.

"We don't really inflict them any pain – the Fates plan everything for them and they just... sign it – and yet this is the first thing I've ever learnt."

Johnny feels like the filter of the Underworld, always looming over everything like a reminder, has just become gloomier. The boy dressed in the colors of the world looks faded out.

"Hands… they deliver meanings.

They have the strength to crumple your message, but also cradle your heart with trust.

Isn't that, trust, what moves it all?

If I let you hold my hands, I'm yours to handle. Wouldn't I only allow it when I've put my faith in you?"

Absorbed in the other's irises – this time a friendly forest green – Johnny doesn't notice his own cheeks being squished by Jaehyun's warm palms.

 _Words are enchanting,_ he decides, _and they might as well just carry all the trust those careful hands have transmitted them._

_To you,_

_whom I've never said_

_I love you_

_but I hoped my actions_

_showed so._

_whom means so much, but_

_is so little._

_To you,_

_whom I hope sees_

_colors and_

_hears_

_sparrows chirp._

_To you, I say_

_You're not to_

_Take for Granted._

_**"Colors of two worlds, one boy holding my heart and maybe it's spring all year-long.** _

_Wouldn't you grow me raibows watching over your pomegranates?"_

**Author's Note:**

>  _ὁ Ζεύς, τοῦ Διός, τῷ Διί:_ declension of the noun Zeus in Ancient Greek; first three cases (nominative, genitive, dative).  
> Translitterated and pronounced Zeús, Diós, Dií, meaning "Zeus, of Zeus, to Zeus".  
> To ignore the articles that proceeded every noun, whether they're proper or common.
> 
>  _Θαύμαζω:_ to be amazed, to admire, to worship/venerate.
> 
> _______________
> 
> [TWT](https://twitter.com/119markno?s=09), [IG](https://instagram.com/bella.donnae/), [CC](https://curiouscat.qa/119markno/)


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